John Curtis: How have returns for your college football portfolio been?

Monday

Sep 29, 2008 at 12:01 AMSep 29, 2008 at 10:53 AM

Just like the stock market, many thought the 2008 college football season couldn’t surpass the calamity of 2007; but just like those people on Wall Street, this season has been even more treacherous than last year.

John Curtis

Did you lose stock in your college football team this season?

Just like the stock market, many thought the 2008 college football season couldn’t surpass the calamity of 2007; but just like those people on Wall Street, this season has been even more treacherous than last year.

East Carolina beats West Virginia and Virginia Tech to open the season; Vanderbilt is in the Top 25 for the first time since the 1980s; and to top it all off, three of the top four teams in the Associated Press poll lost, knocking out the Pac-10 and Big 10. And we’re not into October yet.

It’s like the Dow Jones — sports edition. But, unlike the stock market, this one could be fun to watch.

We have the Southern California Trojans to thank for the college football version of the crashing market. Many columnists said that the possibility of USC or Ohio State reaching the BCS championship game was pretty certain considering many felt the rest of the teams in the Pac-10 and Big 10 conferences were down this year. The Trojans pounded the Buckeyes and looked to have an easy road to the title game despite the lackluster teams on the Pacific Coast they have to play.

Oregon State then did the nation a favor by beating the Trojans in Corvallis, Ore., last Thursday night -- the second time in three years the Beavers have beaten USC. Follow that with No. 3 Georgia getting beat by then-No. 8 Alabama, and No. 4 Florida having an extra point blocked in their home loss to Ole Miss, and that dropped the college football world on its collective ear.

So what we now have is a race between the Big 12 and the Southeastern Conference to try to reach the title game in Miami.

Oklahoma is the new No. 1 after handling a TCU team that was ranked and had one of the best defensive squads in the country. Missouri moves up to No. 4, and Texas is No. 5. The SEC was able to reload instead of lose spots as the Crimson Tide moved up six spots to No. 2 in the Associated Press poll, followed by Louisiana State. Penn State at No. 6 is the top-ranked team not in either conference.

It goes back to what people have said about why it’s tougher for teams in the Big 12 or SEC to win the national championship: The teams in both conferences will beat each other up, making it nearly impossible for a team from either conference to go through their leagues unbeaten.

And these teams do have to play one another during the regular season.

Oklahoma opens up at Baylor this week, then plays Texas next week at the annual showdown in Dallas and follows that with a home matchup against No. 16 Kansas. Texas opens up league play at Colorado before their game with the Sooners. And both teams have to play Texas Tech, ranked No. 7 in their polls.

Missouri doesn’t get much of a break despite not having to play Oklahoma or Texas Tech during the regular season. The Tigers play at Nebraska this week, then hosts Oklahoma State before traveling to Texas for a game in Austin on Oct. 18.

If Alabama and LSU stay unbeaten until their matchup on Nov. 8 — and that would be a feat itself considering the schedule — then they could be playing for No. 1 if all of the Big 12 teams falter. LSU plays at Florida on Oct. 11 and also hosts Georgia two weeks later. Alabama’s schedule is a little bit easier, but not a cakewalk (hosts Kentucky, Ole Miss and upset-minded Arkansas State; and plays at Tennessee).

And let’s not forget that these two conferences have conference championship games, while the Pac-10 and Big 10 don’t; and anything can happen at those games. It also does matter in the polls, even though you may not realize it, that when you lose could also be just as good for a team as whom caused you to lose.

So what we’re left is the college football scene just as unstable as the financial market, with the possibility, at the end, of the BCS pushing USC vs. Ohio State for the championship back down our throats.

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